User:Kizzle/CTSen

The 2006 election of a United States Senator from the state of Connecticut will be held on November 7 2006, with the winner serving a six-year term from January 3 2007 to January 3 2013. After a heated August 8 primary between incumbent three-term Democratic Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and Greenwich selectman Ned Lamont, Lieberman is now running as an independent candidate under the newly formed Connecticut for Lieberman political party for re-election against Lamont, the winner of the Democratic primary, in addition to the Republican nominee, former Derby Mayor Alan Schlesinger and Green Party nominee Ralph Ferrucci

Democrat: Ned Lamont
On May 19, 2006, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont received 33% of the vote at the Democratic State Convention, well above the 15% threshold needed to appear on the primary ballot without having to collect signatures. Lieberman campaign manager Sean Smith dismissed his performance, claiming that many delegates at the convention saw the endorsement question as a "free vote" to "register displeasure with Lieberman without it costing them anything," and speculated that those voters would return to Lieberman in the August primary.

Lamont differs from Lieberman on various issues. He is against the Iraq War and the PATRIOT Act, supports gay marriage and universal health care, opposes the recent creditor-friendly changes to U.S. bankruptcy law, opposes federal intervention in cases such as Terri Schiavo's, opposes the federal earmark system (i.e. pork barrel projects), and says he would have led the charge against the Samuel Alito nomination. (Although Lieberman was one of 41 Democrats who voted against the Alito confirmation, he was one of 18 Democrats to vote for cloture. If cloture did not pass, a vote on the confirmation would have been blocked (unless Republicans had taken the controversial step of invoking the so-called "nuclear option").

Republican: Alan Schlesinger
On May 20, 2006, Connecticut Republicans nominated former Derby Mayor Alan Schlesinger. In July, it was revealed that he was involved in inappropiate gambling activities: Schlesinger gambled under the alias "Alan Gold," to avoid detection as a card counter. On July 21 the Hartford Courant reported that Schlesinger had been sued by two New Jersey casinos for gambling debts. Schlesinger quickly faced fire from state party officials and some, including Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, called on him to withdraw. Connecticut GOP chairman George Gallo has considered previous Republican Senate candidate, Jack Orchulli, as a possible replacement if Schlesinger withdraws. On July 24, however, Courant colummist Kevin Rennie suggested former State Senator Bill Aniskovich of Branford&mdsah;who was defeated in 2004 while seeking his eighth term&mdsah;would replace Schlesinger if he withdrew. Other possible replacements include U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor, State Senator John McKinney of Fairfield and Derby state representative Themis Klarides.

Independent: Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman, the incumbent three-term senator, is running for his fourth term. Lieberman was Al Gore's vice presidential running mate in the 2000 election. The Gore/Lieberman ticket won the popular vote but controversially lost the electoral college vote to George W. Bush.

After a heated primary, Lieberman was defeated by Lamont 52% to 48%. Soon after his defeat, his campaign submitted the required signatures to run as an Independent (under the new Connecticut for Lieberman Party). While many of his Democratic collegues have tried to convince him to drop his Independent bid, he has stood firm on his promise to run. The day after losing in the primary Lieberman fired the majority of his campaign staff including his campaign manager.

Other Third Party Candidates

 * Ralph Ferrucci, Green Party - artist, truck driver, 2004 congressional candidate, and 2003 "Guilty Party" New Haven mayoral candidate.


 * John Mertens - a tenured Associate Professor of Engineering at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He also teaches environmental science and public policy.

Status unclear
 * Herschal Collins - a Vietnam War veteran and frequent litigant, was the first to file for the Senate seat, but has no campaign organization and does not appear to be a serious candidate. He has a lawsuit pending claiming that Lieberman's Senate term is invalid because he permitted the Department of Interior to approve two casinos for use on Indian lands in Connecticut.

No longer running
 * Paul Streitz, an author, immigration control activist, and 2004 candidate; dropped out of the race just before the convention and seconded Schlesinger's nomination there.


 * Diana S. Urban - Republican state representative from North Stonington who was running as a petitioning candidate on an anti-war platform. On August 9, she announced she had not garned enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Democratic Primary Results
From the Hartford Courant

For Lieberman
Individuals


 * Civil Rights Movement leader U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Congressman from Georgia, endorsed Lieberman for both the Democratic primary and the general election.


 * Republican Congressman Christopher Shays.


 * Senator Barbara Boxer campaigned for Lieberman on July 24, 2006.


 * Former President and fellow Yale University alum Bill Clinton campaigned for Lieberman at an event held in Waterbury on July 24, but continues to stress that he, like his wife, will support whichever candidate wins the primary.


 * Senators Joe Biden, Daniel Inouye and Ken Salazar campaigned for Lieberman on July 31.


 * Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mark Pryor, Frank Lautenberg, Evan Bayh, Tom Carper, Dick Durbin, Diane Feinstein, Ken Salazar, Ron Wyden and Ben Nelson all endorsed Lieberman in the primary. However, Senators Mark Pryor, Ken Salazar, and Ben Nelson are the only Democratic Senators who have endorsed Lieberman's independent run.


 * Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland, a wounded Vietnam War veteran, campaigned with Lieberman at a rally in East Haven on August 6.

Organizations


 * Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has endorsed Lieberman.


 * AFL-CIO and affiliated labor organizations endorsed Lieberman.  However, Connecticut AFT, the second largest AFL-CIO union in Connecticut, endorsed Lamont (see below).


 * Planned Parenthood Federal PAC endorsed Lieberman on June 30, 2006.


 * NARAL Pro-choice America PAC, which lobbies for reproductive rights nationally, has endorsed Lieberman. However, Carolyn Treiss, head of Connecticut NARAL, supports Lamont.


 * Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equal rights organizations in the United States, has endorsed Lieberman.


 * U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Newspapers


 * The Hartford Courant, the state's largest newspaper, endorsed Lieberman in its July 30 edition.
 * The Connecticut Post, the state's third largest paper, serving the Bridgeport area.


 * The New York Post.


 * The Greenwich Time.


 * The Washington Post published an editorial offering some praise of Lieberman, but did not use the word endorse or otherwise explicitly call for his reelection.


 * The New Haven Register, the state's second largest paper, endorsed Lieberman on August 6.

For Lamont
Individuals


 * Congresswoman Maxine Waters.


 * Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.


 * Former President Bill Clinton and wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have endorsed Lamont in the general election despite thier support for Lieberman in the primary.


 * Senators Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Russ Feingold, Tom Harkin, John Kerry, Frank Lautenberg, Robert Menendez, Barack Obama, and Chris Dodd supported Lieberman in the primary but now support Lamont, the official Democratic nominee.


 * 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.


 * Former Senator and 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards plans to campaign for Lamont.


 * Former U.S. Senator and Governor Lowell Weicker, who was unseated by Lieberman in 1988 and had been considering running as an independent, gave Lamont his endorsement. Weicker served in the Senate as a Republican from 1971-1989, and as Governor as an independent from 1991 to 1995.


 * Michael Schiavo, husband of Terri Schiavo, is campaigning for Lamont.


 * George Jepsen, former Connecticut Senate Majority Leader and former Chair of the Connecticut Democratic Party.


 * Carl Feen, Lieberman's first finance chair, and Irv Stolberg, former Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives.


 * Christopher Donovan, Majority Leader, Connecticut House of Representatives.


 * Mary Ann Handley, Deputy Majority Leader, Connecticut State Senate.


 * Denise Merrill, Co-Chair, Connecticut General Assembly Appropriations Committee.


 * Founder of popular internet blog DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, supported Lamont throughout the primary and now supports him in the general election.


 * Lieberman's former college roommate David Wyles.


 * Actor Danny Glover campaigned for Lamont the week before the primary.


 * On primary night, black activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton shared the stage with Lamont. Some commentators have questioned whether their support will be an asset in a general election. http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak13.html

Organizations


 * MoveOn.org endorsed Lamont's Senate campaign in an "Online Primary", with Lamont winning 85% of the vote and Lieberman winning only 14%.


 * Democracy for America, a political action committee founded by Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and run by his brother Jim Dean, endorsed and began collecting donations for Ned Lamont. Howard Dean ran against Joe Lieberman in the heated 2004 Democratic presidential primary race, and Lieberman criticized Dean for sealing some of his official papers when he left his office as the governor of Vermont. Jim Dean is a Connecticut resident.


 * The National Organization for Women, which refused to endorse Lieberman in his three previous runs for the Senate, has endorsed Lamont. The same applies to the pro-choice group Connecticut Choice Voice.


 * Democratic National Committee  - The DNC remained neutral until after Lamont won the the democratic primary.  After his win, Howard Dean, the Chairman of the DNC, called for Lieberman to exit the race and said the DNC would support Lamont.

Newspapers


 * The New York Times.


 * The Hartford Advocate published an editorial by Alistair Highet, the newspaper's editor, critical of Lieberman and of the Courant's endorsement.

Neutral
There are many Democratic Party officials and organizations that remained on the sidelines during the primary contest, stating only that they will support the Democratic nominee. Some of the most notable examples include:
 * Al Gore declined to endorse Lieberman, his 2000 vice presidential selection.
 * Connecticut gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano endorsed Lieberman but campaigned with Lamont.

Lieberman
Lieberman campaign ads are the work of Carter Eskew, who previously functioned in that role in Lieberman's first campaign in 1988.

"Bear cub" ad
On June 16, 2006, Lieberman released a web-based ad on his campaign site aimed at Lamont's support from Lowell Weicker. The animated ad is a sequel to a 1988 spot portraying Weicker as a sleeping bear - this time, Lamont is Weicker's "bear cub." The narrator of the ad asks, "Remember Lowell Weicker? Well, bears never forget. He's never gotten over losing his Senate race to Joe Lieberman, but instead of coming out of hibernation, he's sent his bear cub, instead. Ned Lamont." On its initial release, the ad received a negative response from many political bloggers, some characterizing it as amateurish.

"No More Joe" ad
Lieberman released an advertisement that aired on Fox News on July 9 and CSPAN during the first Lieberman-Lamont Debate. The ad argues that Lamont stands for little more than opposition to Lieberman. In service of this point, the Lieberman ad displays "an invented bumper sticker and fictitious website address, making them appear to be part of his primary challenger Ned Lamont's campaign."

"Bill Clinton" ad
Lieberman began airing an ad on Connecticut broadcast television stations featuring footage from his rally with former President Bill Clinton in Waterbury on July 26.

"Unity" ad
On August 11, Lieberman began running an ad on Connecticut TV stations outlining his rationale for a third party run, stating he wanted to bring a "unity of purpose" back to Washington.

Lamont
Lamont campaign ads are the work of Bill Hillsman, who has previously produced ads for Governor Jesse Ventura and Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, Denver, Colorado Mayor John Hickenlooper, and Texas Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman.

"Right Now" ad
In his first television commercial, Lamont is shown talking on a sofa in a well-appointed home while supporters peer through his window and eventually storm the house. It was noted for its featuring popular liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas Zúniga.

"Messy Desk" ad
Lamont released a humorous ad mocking the frivolity of many of Lieberman's negative attack ads: "Meet Ned Lamont," begins a foreboding narrator, "He can't make a decent cup of coffee, he's a bad karaoke singer, and he has a messy desk."

Lamont later chimes in, "Aren't you sick of political attack ads that insult your intelligence? Senator Lieberman, let's stick to issues and pledge to support whoever wins the Democratic primary."

"Wishing Well" ad
"Wishing Well"

"Where's Joe?" ad
"Where's Joe?", "Who's Joe?"

"The Issue" ad
"The Issue"

"Go for It, Mr. Lamont!" ad
"Go for It, Mr. Lamont!"

Opposition to Lieberman
Lieberman's critics object to what they call Lieberman's lack of commitment to the Democratic party; his opposition to affirmative action; his opposition to a Connecticut state law that would require Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims; his opposition to same-sex marriage; his membership in the Gang of 14; his support of Florida governor Jeb Bush in the Terri Schiavo case; his willingness to compromise on Social Security privatization; his alliances with Republicans and attacks on other Democrats;  and Lieberman's rhetoric, which is believed by many Democrats, including Paul Krugman and former John Kerry advisor Ari Melber, to often support Republican talking points. Paul Bass, in the Hartford Courant, argues that Lieberman's voting record is not representative of his actions.

Lieberman has been criticized for an editorial he wrote for The Wall Street Journal, in which he suggested that criticism of the President and the war put the nation in jeopardy. He declared "we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril."

Opposition to Lamont
New Republic'' senior editor and "liberal hawk" Jonathan Chait, who is critical of Lieberman on a variety of issues, writes:

I can't quite root for Lieberman to lose his primary. What's holding me back is that the anti-Lieberman campaign has come to stand for much more than Lieberman's sins. It's a test of strength for the new breed of left-wing activists who are flexing their muscles within the party. These are exactly the sorts of fanatics who tore the party apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They think in simple slogans and refuse to tolerate any ideological dissent."

Kevin Drum, in The Washington Monthly, objects to this characterization of Lieberman's opponents, writing:

Chait calls the Kos/Atrios wing "left-wing activists." But this is a serious misreading.... They aren't especially left wing. Markos in particular specifically prides himself on caring mostly about winning elections, not fighting ideological battles. Now, there's no question that the left blogosphere is vaguely in favor of all the usual liberal goals: progressive taxation, decent healthcare for everyone, tolerance for minorities, and so forth. And, yes, they're loudly in favor of these things.... But to compare it to the left-wing radicals of the early 70s is to misunderstand it completely. Netroots favorite Howard Dean is no lefty radical, and at a policy level most of the high-traffic liberal blogs are only modestly to the left of the DLC."

Many Democrats have argued that a primary race against Lieberman will divert energy and attention from other contested Senate races; Lieberman and Lamont are spending millions of dollars on a primary for what would be a safe Democratic seat. Because of Lieberman's high favorability ratings in Connecticut, some strategists consider the commitment of significant resources toward defeating Lieberman to be dubious. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's request to Lamont not to run was rebuffed.

Lamont's opinions regarding Israel's recent military campaign in Lebanon have been criticised. Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie wrote on August 13: Lamont's is a frightening point of view that ignores decades of determination by Islamic terrorists to kill Jews. The means have become more lethal and sophisticated, but there is nothing new in the purpose. To blame George W. Bush for the missiles flying from southern Lebanon into northern Israeli towns betrays a malignant partisanship by Lamont that ought to alarm voters on most spots of the political spectrum"

Lieberman allegations of website attack
From midmorning August 7th to August 8th, Lieberman's official campaign site joe2006.com was taken offline; officials from Lieberman's campaign claimed "dirty politics" and "Rovian tactics" on the part of Lamont's supporters, and more specifically, a sustained Distributed Denial of Service attack that, according to the Lieberman campaign, has left the site down for several days.

On Wednesday August 9th, 2006, the Lieberman website was updated with the following message among a white screen:

UPDATE ON THE ATTACK ON THE LIEBERMAN CAMPAIGN WEBSITE

STATEMENT FROM SEAN SMITH: "For the past 24 hours the Friends for Joe Lieberman's website and email has been totally disrupted and disabled, we believe that this is the result of a coordinated attack by our political opponents. The campaign has notified the US Attorney and the Connecticut Chief State's Attorney and the campaign will be filing a formal complaint reflecting our concerns. The campaign has also notified the State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal for his review."

"We call on Ned Lamont to make an unqualified statement denouncing this kind of dirty campaign trick and to demand whoever is responsible to cease and desist immediately. Any attempt to suppress voter participation and undermine the voting process on Election Day is deplorable and has no place in our democracy."

Tim Tagaris, Lamont's Internet communications director, denied the charge and attributed the downtime to the fact that the Lieberman campaign had chosen an inferior web host, or ISP, and was only paying $15/month to operate its site (in comparison to the $1500/month being spent by the Lamont campaign). He then offered to help bring their servers back up, along with providing a link to a cached version of Lieberman's site on their blog.

Markos Zuniga, of Daily Kos also posted that he was able to telnet into the IP address where the Lieberman campaign's website existed, which would be impossible if a DDoS attack had occurred.

Lieberman contacted the Connecticut attorney general's office and asked for a criminal investigation by state and federal authorities. Connecticuts Attorney General Richard Blumenthal stated in a official press release that he plans to investigate the website hacking. I have received a complaint from Sen. Lieberman's campaign asking my office to investigate the hacking of his campaign web site. I will investigate potential violations of anti-hacking provisions of our state computer crimes laws that are specifically within my jurisdiction. I will also work with the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and state and federal criminal authorities concerning possible violations of state election statutes, and federal election protections and other laws. We will seek civil and criminal penalties, where appropriate.

Richard M. Smith, an Internet security consultant in Brookline, Mass., said Lieberman's website was the victim of a denial of service attack, though he said that the Lieberman campaign had "went a little cheap" by using a "low-budget hosting service."

Other related website outages on Primary Day
DailyKos.com, MyDD.com, and FireDogLake.com, all liberal websites that covered the Connecticut primary extensively, all went down on Primary Day due to traffic spikes related to the primary. DailyKos estimated that at one point in the day, they were receiving 2,000 hits per minute.

Lieberman's independent candidacy
On June 12, Ned Lamont began running radio ads promising if he lost the primary to endorse Lieberman, challenging Lieberman to abandon consideration of an independent run by making a similar pledge. Lieberman refused to make this pledge. In fact, Lieberman campaign manager Sean Smith said to reporter Erik Campano, "Are we going to support Ned Lamont? Ah, no!"

On July 3 in Hartford, Lieberman announced that he will be collecting signatures in order to guarantee himself a position on the November ballot. Both Lieberman and his campaign manager Sean Smith said that Lieberman will run as a "petitioning democrat" and will caucus with Senate Democrats if elected. This term is only rhetorical since Lieberman cannot legally run as a "petitioning democrat" due to Connecticut state law which holds that independent candidates "shall not incorporate the name of any major party" into their own party designation. On July 10, the Lieberman campaign officially filed paperwork allowing him to collect signatures to form a new political party, the Connecticut for Lieberman party, in order to secure a more favorable ballot line.

Because the deadline to submit 7,500 signatures for an independent candidacy is August 9 under Connecticut election law, the day after the August 8 primary, Lieberman had to declare his intentions to file well in advance of the primary in order to allow sufficient time to collect signatures. (Whether a candidate requests petition forms is public information and cannot be kept secret.) Upon Lieberman's announcement, polls showed him favored to win a plurality or outright majority of the vote in a three-way general election, but these leads have shrunk or evaporated in more recent polling (see below). The petition issue has led to charges against the Lieberman campaign of political opportunism and lack of respect for the political process. On July 19, the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee passed a resolution denouncing Lieberman's proposed Independent bid. Other town committees have likewise cautioned Senator Lieberman.

On August 1 the Hartford Courant reported that although Lieberman volunteers were actively soliciting signatures in a number of towns, including West Hartford, the Lieberman campaign declined to discuss the operation with the press.

A poll of Connecticut Democrats on August 1 and August 2 from Research 2000 asked, "Would you like to see Joe Lieberman run as an Independent if he loses the Democratic primary?" 63% said no, and 24% said yes. CBS exit polls of primary voters showed slightly less opposition (within the 3 point margin of error), but more support, with 61% opposed to a Lieberman independent run and 39% in favor of a independent run.

Following his loss in the primaries, Lieberman's hometown newspaper, The New Haven Register, which endorsed him for the primary, stated on August 10 that Joe Lieberman should accept the results of his party's primary, reconsider his bid to run as an independent candidate, and get out of the race.

For Lieberman
Democratic Senators
 * Tom Carper*
 * Daniel Inouye*
 * Ben Nelson*
 * Mark Pryor*
 * Ken Salazar*

* = supported in primary as well

U.S. Representatives
 * Brad Sherman

State Legislators
 * James A. Amann, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives

Local Elected Officials
 * Michael Jarjura, the Mayor of Waterbury

Other Democrats


 * New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said in a statement that he was backing Ned Lamont and said that Lieberman needs to step aside.
 * 2004 Presidential primary candidate Wesley Clark endorsed Lamont and urged Lieberman to leave the race.
 * 2004 vice-presidential candidate John Edwards endorsed Lamont and will campaign for him.
 * Former Virginia Governor and possible 2008 Presidential candidate Mark Warner endorsed Lamont.

Newspapers On August 10, The Washington Post supported Lieberman's independent run, saying "He would be the better senator. That's why staying in the race is the right move"

Republicans
 * Representative Mark Kennedy of Minnesota and Mike McGavick of Washington, both Republican senatorial candidates, have endorsed Lieberman.
 * Maine Senator Susan Collins, chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee, endorsed Lieberman, calling him "an important voice of moderation and experience"
 * Liberal Connecticut Republican Congressman Christopher Shays has endorsed Lieberman.
 * Conecticut Representative Rob Simmons praised Lieberman but stopped short of a formal endorsement.
 * Conecticut Representative Nancy L. Johnson praised Lieberman but stopped short of a formal endorsement.
 * National Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman, when asked, refused to support Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger over Lieberman.
 * The day after the primary, Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview that he regretted Lieberman's loss.
 * Ann Coulter
 * Sean Hannity
 * Michelle Malkin
 * Jim Vicevich
 * Rush Limbaugh
 * Bill O'Reilly
 * John Gibson
 * Cal Thomas have all spoken positively of Lieberman on their shows.

Lamont
Democratic Senators The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont’s candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run.
 * Democratic Leader Harry Reid and DSCC Chair Chuck Schumer issued the following joint statement August 9th on the Connecticut Senate race:

Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.
 * Daniel Akaka, Hawaii
 * Evan Bayh, Indiana
 * Joe Biden, Deleware
 * Barbara Boxer, California
 * Maria Cantwell, Washington
 * Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York
 * Chris Dodd, Connecticut
 * Dick Durbin, Illinois
 * Russ Feingold, Wisconsin
 * Dianne Feinstein, California
 * Tom Harkin, Iowa
 * Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts
 * John Kerry, Massachusetts
 * Herb Kohl, Wisconsin
 * Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey
 * Patrick Leahy, Vermont
 * Robert Menendez, New Jersey
 * Patty Murray, Washington
 * Barack Obama, Illinois
 * Jack Reed, Rhode Island
 * Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia
 * Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
 * Ron Wyden, Oregon

* = supported in primary as well

Waterbury statement controversy
Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan criticized the strongly pro-Lieberman city of Waterbury for alleged corruption, describing it as a meeting place for "forces of evil" in a published interview. Waterbury's Democratic Mayor Michael Jarjura, had endorsed Lieberman after the primary. Swan later apologized for the statement saying the comment was aimed at former Mayor Philip Giordano as "slime" and former Governor John Rowland, a Waterbury native, as "evil". Both Giordano and Roland were forced to resign from their positions due to criminal activities. As Jarjura failed to accept Swan's "apology", Lamont himself was forced to apologize for the comments.

Attacks on Lamont from conservatives
Numerous conservatives have attacked Lamont following his victory, including Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson and Cal Thomas of Fox News, with Gibson referring to Lamont as "Pol Pot" and Thomas comparing him to the "Taliban" respectively.

Post-election speculation
A leading Connecticut political blog speculated on August 12 that should Lieberman's independent bid for re-election succeed, he would be an attractive 2008 presidential candidate for a new centrist third party.

Finances
Lieberman and Lamont fought a hotly contested and expensive primary battle for the Democratic nomination. Republican candidate Schlesinger gained his party's nomination through the Republican convention and has raised and spent relatively little. Minor candidates' fundraising has been almost insignificant.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, fundraising and cash on hand (as of dates specified) are as follows:

In the days before the Democratic Party primary, the Lieberman campaign invoked the "millionaire rule", believing that Lamont's personal campaign contributions had exceeded federal limits. Despite having more than double Lamont's funding, Lieberman accepted contributions up to a higher $6,300 limit per individual. The normal limit is $2,100. Lieberman accepts substantial contributions from political action committees, while Lamont solicits donations from only a handful.

Humor and popular culture
Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," interviewed Lamont about one week before the primary. Colbert invited Lieberman to appear, offering him Cocoa Puffs cereal and two airline tickets to Boca Raton during his broadcast, among other "inducements." Although Lieberman previously appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Lieberman thus far has declined Colbert's invitation.

Colbert promises to keep an empty leather chair by his desk through the primary in case Lieberman changes his mind. "I've placed an empty seat here for you much like Jewish families set a place for Elijah at the Passover table should he care to stop by." Since the election, the chair has been moved to a permanent place in the audience.